New Zealand Says You Can't Use Your Mobile Phone For Navigation While Driving

from the because-that-would-upset-the-GPS-device-makers dept

Brendan was the first of a few to submit the story that New Zealand is telling people that they can't use their mobile phones for navigation purposes, even if that phone is mounted on the dashboard like a regular GPS navigation device. Regular GPS devices are fine... but a mobile phone acting just like one of those devices? That's illegal. Why? No one seems to be saying, but you can bet the standalone GPS makers are happy about this... Update: Well, that was fast. Given public backlash, the gov't has already decided to back down and rewrite the laws to allow mobile phone navigation systems.

The Stupid Thing Is...

...there is already a law against driving “without due care and attention”, which you would think would be ample to catch those misusing mobile phones, make-up compacts, cheese graters, lion-taming kits, or indeed any past, present or future technological item that could reasonably cause a distraction. Yet the Government had to go out of its way to pass a new law specifically addressing mobile phones. Thereby catching some unintended fish in its net, which it then has to go back and release by adding yet another complication on top of the unnecessary complication it already introduced.

Re: The Stupid Thing Is...

That is the same problem I have with them passing "no talking on cell phone while driving" laws here in the US (or anywhere really). There are already laws for reckless endangerment and failure to illustrate due care and stuff like that. So why do we need laws banning tiny little things here and there. Some people drive just fine talking on a cell phone. Others do not. For those who do not there are already laws to ticket them.
I guess it is just the politicians trying to justify their existence. If only we had actual public servants instead of politicians we would be a lot better off.

Re: Re: The Stupid Thing Is...

That is the same problem I have with them passing "no talking on cell phone while driving" laws here in the US (or anywhere really). There are already laws for reckless endangerment and failure to illustrate due care and stuff like that. So why do we need laws banning tiny little things here and there. Some people drive just fine talking on a cell phone. Others do not. For those who do not there are already laws to ticket them.

Amen. The same thing applies to those stupid drinking and driving laws too. Some people can drink and drive just fine, others cannot. For those who cannot there are other laws that can be applied.

I guess it is just the politicians trying to justify their existence. If only we had actual public servants instead of politicians we would be a lot better off.

It's the feminization of society and the resultant pandering by politicians to groups like MADD.